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Intestinal Polyps and Polyposis pp 19–37Cite as

Pathological Features of Sporadic Colonic Adenoma

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Abstract

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common neoplasms of industrialized nations. Most colorectal cancer develops from adenomas. There are four categories of adenoma: tubular, villous, tubulo-villous, and flat-depressed, and the histological features of adenomas may be defined as low- or high-grade dysplasia.

Morphological features that determine the malignant potential of an adenoma are size, growth pattern, and grade of dysplasia. Colorectal adenoma containing invasive carcinoma corresponds to a carcinoma invading the submucosa, and represents the earliest form of clinically relevant colon cancer. Improved prognostic power may derive from advancements in histopathological evaluation. The pathological features that are crucial for evaluating risk of adverse outcome include histological grade, completeness of resection margin, vasoinvasiveness, tumor budding, and level of invasion of the submucosa. These pathological parameters define two groups of early colorectal cancer with different risk of nodal and/or local recurrence: low- and highrisk early colorectal cancer.

Phenotypic characteristics seen on histopathological examination are essential to planning patient management and should continue to be the major focus of pathologists’ efforts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, University of Verona, Verona, Italy

    Sara Pecori MD, Paola Capelli MD, Marco Vergine MD & Fabio Manestrina (Professor)

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  1. Sara Pecori MD
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  2. Paola Capelli MD
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  3. Marco Vergine MD
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  4. Fabio Manestrina
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery and Gastroenterology, University of Verona, Verona, Italy

    Gian Gaetano Delaini

  2. Department of Surgery, Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute, Brno, Czech Republic

    Tomáš Skřička

  3. Department of Surgery and Gastroenterology, University of Verona, Verona, Italy

    Gianluca Colucci

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Pecori, S., Capelli, P., Vergine, M., Manestrina, F. (2009). Pathological Features of Sporadic Colonic Adenoma. In: Delaini, G.G., Skřička, T., Colucci, G. (eds) Intestinal Polyps and Polyposis. Springer, Milano. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-1124-3_2

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